THIS INVENTION concerns a golf bag being a container for the storage and carrying of a standard set of 14 golf clubs, and which serves also for storage and transportation. The bag may be carried, or act as a manual or powered trolley. The bag is designed to be weather and damage-resistant thus to protect the clubs and ancillary golf equipment in use, storage and transportation.
Golf bags are known in which the clubs are retained in discrete locations to prevent them from clashing during movement of the bag thus to protect the clubs from damage. U.S. Pat. No. 2,890,061 describes and illustrates a golf club container comprising a carrousel mounted for rotation within a fixed housing and adapted to accommodate at spaced locations around the carrousel a set of golf clubs. An access opening is provided along the length of the housing to enable individual clubs to be removed from and replaced on the carrousel. The club heads are accommodated on a pair of vertically displaced shelves but are not prevented from clashing with one another during transportation, nor are they prevented from rising within the housing and from the risk of becoming dislodged from the shelves.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,708 describes and illustrates a golf trolley comprising a carrousel rotatably mounted within a fixed housing and having a plurality of flat-bottomed, dished shelves upon which club heads are located. Again, there is a vertical access opening through which clubs may be removed from and replaced on the carrousel. However, no positive means is provided to prevent the club heads from rotating about their respective shafts nor from rising within the bag. Thus there remains the risk of club heads clashing and becoming damaged during movement of the trolley.
A principal object of the present invention is to provide a golf bag in which the clubs are stored on a carousel with their heads lowermost and the grips at a generally common level for easy retrieval and in which the clubs are individually protects along their entire length.
According to the present invention there is provided a golf bag comprising a tubular housing, a carrousel rotatably mounted within the housing, shelves mounted on the carrousel to support club heads at two or more levels in a lower region of the bag, and to accommodate a set of golf clubs in discrete locations on and around the carrousel, an elongate access opening in the wall of the housing through which a selected club may pass, and a closure means for the opening; characterised in that the carrousel includes means to prevent the clubs from rotating about their respective shafts and to prevent the clubs from rising within the bag.
At least one of the shelves may be inclined downwardly towards the rotational axis of the carousel.
The shelves may be dished in inverted conical form.
Three or more shelves may be mounted on a central spindle in a lower region of the carousel in axially spaced locations thereon.
The shelves may be of a flexible material.
The spindle may be located in a lower bearing in the base of the housing.
The carousel may have an internal storage compartment and an upper bearing member bearing upon the internal wall of the housing.
The carousel may be formed with flutes to accommodate individual club shafts and grips.
Clips may be included to retain the club shafts and grips and may be adjustable relative to the shelves.
The clips may include means to prevent the clubs from rising in the bag.
The bag may include attachment means for trolley wheels which may be retractable.
A wheeled transportation tray may be provided and adapted to receive the bag in clamped and locked relationship thereon.